THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The Cooperation Department will launch a market intervention programme ``Sahakarana Vipananam Keraleeyam'' to check the price rise of essential commodities by opening 5,000 retail outlets across Kerala in two months, Minister for Cooperation G. Sudhakaran has said.

Mr. Sudhakaran and Kerala State Cooperative Bank president Kadakampally Surendran told reporters here on Tuesday that the fair price retail outlets such as festival markets would start functioning from Thursday.

As many as 3,812 outlets would be opened initially and the rest would become functional within the next two months. The outlets would be vending all essential items, including different varieties of rice, palmolein, coconut oil, pulses and chillies at competitive rates. The 1,601 primary agriculture credit societies, 48 agriculture development banks, employees' cooperative societies, residents' welfare societies, marketing societies, retail outlets of the Kerala State Consumer Federation, district wholesale consumer stores and primary consumer stores in the cooperative sector would open such vending units to arrest the price rise of essential commodities, they said.

Rs. 30-cr. subsidy

The consumer federation would procure the listed items from the production centres and distribute it to the outlets. More outlets would be opened if needed after reviewing the functioning in the initial stage. The expenses incurred for opening the outlets would touch Rs.120 crore. The Government would give a subsidy of Rs.30 crore, he said.

The main reason for the price rise was the new economic policies being pursued by the Centre.

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